New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the agriculture department on Thursday to maintain “permanent preparedness” to deal with locust swarm attacks originating from the Pakistan side.
Chairing the third meeting of the governing body of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Shah said the best practices being adopted in other countries to deal with such attacks should be implemented in India.
“The Department of Agriculture should focus on permanent preparedness to deal with locust swarm attacks originating from the Pakistan side,” he said.
Addressing the meeting, which was attended by senior officials from the home ministry, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the National Disaster Response Force, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the agriculture ministry, the Delhi University and other central and state government institutions, Shah said the country has seen a comprehensive transformation in both the approach and the methodology of disaster management over the last 12 years, adopting a “zero-casualty” approach and moving beyond an earlier emphasis on relief and rehabilitation.
Underscoring the Modi government’s goal of building disaster-resilient villages and cities as a priority, he said the new approach rests on three pillars — risk reduction, early-warning systems and “zero casualty”.
“We have successfully tackled many disasters with zero casualty, which is a major achievement,” Shah said.
He called for a “whole-of-government” approach, in which all government departments actively respond when disasters occur.
“Whenever a disaster occurs, all government departments actively respond. Now, with the strength of new research, we should take this process forward with greater speed and ensure continuous monitoring,” he said.
Shah said the same approach should now be used to strengthen disaster management through research, continuous monitoring and coordinated action.
He said the “zero-casualty” approach should not only be applied at the site of a disaster, it can also be achieved by preventing disasters in the first place.
The home minister said efforts to reduce environmental damage can help prevent disasters and underlined that Mission LiFE, Pro-Planet People and the International Solar Alliance are initiatives contributing to disaster prevention.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that disaster funds should also be distributed through a scientific process.
“The allocation under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) has increased nearly fourfold, while the allocation under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) has increased nearly threefold. Around Rs 2.5 lakh crore have been spent in this sector over the last 11 years, which is a major achievement,” he said.
Shah said the importance of the NIDM and the NDMA is expected to grow as global warming and climate change increase the likelihood of disasters and as new applications of science create the potential for new types of disasters.
“The number of disasters is likely to increase due to global warming and climate change. At the same time, new types of disasters may also emerge due to new applications of science and their expanding areas of use. Keeping all these aspects in mind, the two institutions share responsibilities ranging from policy-making to training and implementation,” he said.
Shah directed government departments to establish dedicated cells to implement the meeting’s agenda. Department heads should review the work of those cells at least once every three months and treat disaster management as a priority, he said.
“The NIDM and the NDMA should jointly issue guidelines for the entire country. These guidelines should clearly specify what should and should not be done in the event of each type of disaster and how it should be done,” he said.
The home minister called for greater seriousness in disaster-management training, with priority given to people genuinely committed to the field.
He said the predecessor of the NIDM, the National Centre for Disaster Management, was once lying almost inactive in a corner of the Krishi Bhawan.
In 2003, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took the historic decision to give it a new lease of life, Shah said.
“Keeping in view the wide scope of the subject and the need for coordination among various agencies, it was decided to bring the institution under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a significant role in revitalising the institution. The NIDM has emerged in its present form with a transformed and strengthened role before the country,” he said.
